PHE Report- Electronic Cigarette less harmful than Smoking

A recent report commissioned by Public Health England (PHE) has found that e-cigarettes are around 95% less harmful than smoking tobacco and also, the report shows that e-cigarettes are helping smokers who cannot or do not want to stop smoking to change to e-cigarettes could help to reduce smoking related disease , death and health inequalities.

The report indicate the emerging evidence that e- cigarettes can be effective cessation and reduction aids and also e-cigarettes help people quit smoking and it was determined that there is “no evidence” that they offer young people a gateway into smoking, Unlike of this, trends in England explained that since e –cigarettes were introduced to the market, cigarette smoking among adults and youth has declined.

One of the problems that e-cigarettes has faced is the continuing negative media campaigns against them, and it is the probable explanation for the change in the perception of e- cigarettes safety, many people think the risk of e-cigarettes are the same as smoking tobacco and this report clearly shows that e- cigarettes are 95% less harmful to the health than normal cigarettes, and help most smokers to quit tobacco.

“E-cigarettes are not completely risk free but when compared to smoking, evidence shows they carry just a fraction of the harm,” explained Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE. “The problem is people increasingly think they are at least as harmful and this may be keeping millions of smokers from quitting. Local stop smoking services should look to support e-cigarette users in their journey to quitting completely.”

The report also explain that e-cigarettes are not a danger for a young population and also for non-smokers, according to the study realized by smoking toolkit study (STS, England) which showed that some of people who use e-cigarettes for the first time do not still using them, and all of these studies have showed that they has helped a lot of people who want to quit to stop this.

“Fears that e-cigarettes have made smoking seem normal again or even led to people taking up tobacco smoking are not so far being realised based on the evidence assessed by this important independent review,” said Professor Linda Bauld from Cancer Research UK. “In fact, the overall evidence points to e-cigarettes actually helping people to give up smoking tobacco.”

It’s estimated that currently 80,000 people in England die each year as a result of smoking, but if everybody who does smoke were to switch to e-cigarettes, then this figure is predicted to drop to just 4,000. The evidence, according to the report, is clear: Smoking e-cigarettes is much less harmful than smoking tobacco cigarettes. And if used in conjunction with stop smoking support services, they offer a much better chance at quitting altogether.

The report of the public health of England suggest “Encouraging smokers who cannot stop smoking to switch to e-cigarettes could be adopted as one of the key strategies to reduce smoking related disease and death”